Margaret thatcher biography summary format

Thatcher was also famous for her right-wing, pro-corporate alliance with US President Regan. She resigned on 28 Novemberafter her disastrous attempt to implement a fixed rate local tax Poll Taxand to disenfranchise those who did not pay it. This led to huge popular protest, and disapproval from within her party. After leaving government she was occupied by writing and lucrative speaking engagements.

Most recently her increasingly poor health and memory loss meant that she was forced to withdraw from public life.

Margaret thatcher biography summary format: She was the longest-serving British prime

Margaret Thatcher: Biography. When Conservatives returned to office in JuneThatcher was appointed secretary of state for education and science, and dubbed "Thatcher, milk snatcher," after her abolition of the universal free school milk scheme. She found her position frustrating, not because of all the bad press around her actions, but because she had difficulty getting Prime Minister Edward Heath to listen to her ideas.

Seemingly disenchanted on the future of women in politics, Thatcher was quoted as saying, "I don't think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime," during a television appearance. Thatcher soon proved herself wrong. While the Conservative Party lost power inThatcher became a dominant force in her political party. She was elected leader of the Conservative Party inbeating out Heath for the position.

Margaret thatcher biography summary format: Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the 'Iron Lady',

With this victory, Thatcher became the first woman to serve as the opposition leader in the House of Commons. England was in a time of economic and political turmoil, with the government nearly bankrupt, unemployment on the rise and conflicts with labor unions. This instability helped return Conservatives to power in As party leader, Thatcher made history in Maywhen she was appointed Britain's first female prime minister.

As prime minister, Thatcher battled the country's recession by initially raising interest rates to control inflation. She was best known for her destruction of Britain's traditional industries through her attacks on labor organizations such as the miner's union, and for the massive privatization of social housing and public transport. One of her staunchest allies was U.

President Ronald Reagana fellow conservative. The two shared similar right-wing, pro-corporate political philosophies. Thatcher faced a military challenge during her first term. In AprilArgentina invaded the Falkland Islands. This British territory had long been a source of conflict between the two nations, as the islands are located off the coast of Argentina.

Taking swift action, Thatcher sent British troops to the territory to retake the islands in what became known as the Falklands War. Argentina surrendered in June In her second term, from toThatcher handled a number of conflicts and crises, the most jarring of which may have been the assassination attempt against her in In a plot by the Irish Republic Army, she was meant to be killed by a bomb planted at the Conservative Conference in Brighton in October.

Undaunted and unharmed, Thatcher insisted that the conference continue, and gave a speech the following day. As for foreign policy, Thatcher met with Mikhail Gorbachevthe Soviet leader, in That same year, she signed an agreement with the Chinese government regarding the future of Hong Kong. Publicly, Thatcher voiced her support for Reagan's air raids on Libya in and allowed U.

Returning for a third term inThatcher sought to implement a standard educational curriculum across the nation and make changes to the country's socialized medical system. However, she lost a lot of support due to her efforts to implement a fixed rate local tax—labeled a poll tax by many since she sought to disenfranchise those who did not pay it.

Hugely unpopular, this policy led to public protests and caused dissension within her party. Mark Carol. Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School. Barrister chemist politician.

Margaret thatcher biography summary format: Margaret Thatcher was Britain's prime

Early life [ change change source ]. As Prime Minister [ change change source ]. Personal life [ change change source ]. Later life [ change change source ]. Death [ change change source ]. See the main article: Death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher. References [ change change source ]. BBC History. Retrieved 8 April BBC News. Retrieved 5 September Margaret Thatcher.

ISBN CBS News. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 June Other websites [ change change source ]. Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. Presidents of the European Council. Authority control. MusicBrainz artist. Germany Trove UK Parliament. Toggle the table of contents. In office 4 May — 28 November Sir Geoffrey Howe — James Callaghan.

In office 11 February — 4 May In office 11 February — 27 November The Viscount Whitelaw. Ministerial offices. Her political career was one of the most remarkable of modern times. Born in October at Grantham, a small market town in eastern England, she rose to become the first and for two decades the only woman to lead a major Western democracy.

She won three successive General Elections and served as British Prime Minister for more than eleven yearsa record unmatched in the twentieth century. During her term of office she reshaped almost every aspect of British politics, reviving the economy, reforming outdated institutions, and reinvigorating the nation's foreign policy. She challenged and did much to overturn the psychology of decline which had become rooted in Britain since the Second World War, pursuing national recovery with striking energy and determination.

In the process, Margaret Thatcher became one of the founders, with Ronald Reagan, of a school of conservative conviction politics, which has had a powerful and enduring impact on politics in Britain and the United States and earned her a higher international profile than any British politician since Winston Churchill. By successfully shifting British economic and foreign policy to the right, her governments helped to encourage wider international trends which broadened and deepened during the s and s, as the end of the Cold War, the spread of democracy, and the growth of free markets strengthened political and economic freedom in every continent.

Margaret Thatcher became one of the world's most influential and respected political leaders, as well as one of the most controversial, dynamic, and plain-spoken, a reference point for friends and enemies alike. Margaret Thatcher's home and early life in Grantham played a large part in forming her political convictions. Her parents, Alfred and Beatrice Roberts, were Methodists.

The social life of the family was lived largely within the close community of the local congregation, bounded by strong traditions of self-help, charitable work, and personal truthfulness. The Roberts family ran a grocery business, bringing up their two daughters in a flat over the shop. Margaret Roberts attended a local state school and from there won a place at Oxford, where she studied chemistry at Somerville College Her outlook was profoundly influenced by her scientific training.

But chemistry took second place to politics in Margaret Thatcher's future plans. Conservative politics had always been a feature of her home life: her father was a local councillor in Grantham and talked through with her the issues of the day. She was elected president of the student Conservative Association at Oxford and met many prominent politicians, making herself known to the leadership of her party at the time of its devastating defeat by Labour at the General Election of In her mid-twenties she ran as the Conservative candidate for the strong Labour seat of Dartford at the General Elections of andmargaret thatcher biography summary format national publicity as the youngest woman candidate in the country.

She lost both times, but cut the Labour majority sharply and hugely enjoyed the experience of campaigning. Aspects of her mature political style were formed in Dartford, a largely working class constituency which suffered as much as any from post-war rationing and shortages, as well as the rising level of taxation and state regulation. Unlike many Conservatives at that time, she had little difficulty getting a hearing from any audience and she spoke easily, with force and confidence, on issues that mattered to the voters.

It was in Dartford too that she met her husband, Denis Thatcher, a local businessman who ran his family's firm before becoming an executive in the oil industry. They married in Twins — Mark and Carol —were born to the couple in In the s Margaret Thatcher trained as a lawyer, specialising in taxation. She was elected to Parliament in as Member of Parliament MP for Finchley, a north London constituency, which she continued to represent until she was made a member of the House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher in Within two years, she was given junior office in the administration of Harold Macmillan and during when the Conservatives were again in Oppositionestablished her place among the senior figures of the party, serving continuously as a shadow minister.

When the Conservatives returned to office inunder the premiership of Edward Heath, she achieved cabinet rank as Education Secretary.

Margaret thatcher biography summary format: Margaret Thatcher was the first woman

Margaret Thatcher had a rough ride as Education Minister. The early s saw student radicalism at its height and British politics at its least civil. Protesters disrupted her speeches, the opposition press vilified her, and education policy itself seemed set immovably in a leftwards course, which she and many Conservatives found uncomfortable.

But she mastered the job and was toughened by the experience. The Heath Government itself took a beating from events during its tenure and disappointed many. Elected on promises of economic revival through taming the trade unions and introducing more free market policies, it executed a series of policy reverses — nicknamed the 'U turns' — to become one of the most interventionist governments in British history, negotiating with the unions to introduce detailed control of wages, prices, and dividends.

Defeated at a General Election in Februarythe Heath Government left a legacy of inflation and industrial strife.